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Husband and I found a couple of wild turkey feathers while out scouting around the area the other day and used them to scooch over bees during my manipulations and I have to say, "bye bye bee brush". In the trash it goes. LOL

Dasiy
I know I'm green at this bee thing but I know some biology. You might not want to throw that brush away. It is possible that wild bird feathers carry all kinds of nasty things i.e. bacteria for one. Are you sure your not doing any harm inadvertantly. Does anyone else have an opinion or better info?

I don't know why I didn't think of that before. I work at a fish hatchery and we use turkey feathers to move sack-fry (small delicate trout that still have yolk sacks),I should be pretty proficient at using a turkey feather to brush bees, however, trout don't fly and bees don't swim.

The secret to brushing bees, with a brush or a feather, is a flick, not a drag. You will roll the bees and make them mad if you slowly drag them across the comb. If you flick them they lose their grip quicker. I haven't had problems harming bees with a quick flick of the brush. But I agree I like a good large quill also.